Against All Odds
by Crazy Kawaii
Summary: Different beginnings, different tasks, different people. Yet they did pretty much the same thing. They both heard of each other. What would happen if they actually met? Anything interesting?


**Author's Note:** Yup. I'm trying to update everything else. This is kinda like... a warm up. This MIGHT progress into a romance. MIGHT. Depending on... YOUR FEEDBACK! YES, YOU! .

(my goal is to create an adequate AR romance...)

* * *

It all started a little more than three years ago. 

It was her father's idea.

Her mother agreed.

"We want you to help us track down perverts lurking on the internet." The FBI had said. A small, easy task.

"Can't you do it?" She had asked.

"Having you do it would be more convincing." They told her. She frowned.

"Do you want your friends to be victimized by these creepy perverted men online?"

She had heard of the stories of young teenagers lured into meeting with strangers on the internet. They were found by police dogs in garbage cans or buried under concrete slabs in some middle-aged failure's back yard.

She didn't want that to happen to her precious friends. So she agreed.

And she was successful.

Though it didn't end there.

"We want you to attend this school and find out who is distributing this drug." They had told her.

"…why can't the police handle it?" She had asked.

"Having you do it would be more effective. Besides, we know that you can handle it. You did so well saving teens, such as yourself, from perverted men online."

Suppressing a modest grin from her past success, she agreed. She attended a private high school on the western coast for two and a half months. There, she discovered that a foreign gang was pumping opium into the student body, which had spread into the community.

With her help, the FBI took over and cracked down on the illegal activities she had discovered.

They received all the credit, and she was never mentioned. They told her it was for her own personal safety.

During one fateful summer vacation, she, her mother and her father took a plane ride to Europe. They would travel the continent, visiting countries while soaking up tons of history.

Following a series of rather unfortunate events, she and her family were kidnapped. Her father's identity was released. A group of terrorist recognized him and decided to use them to their advantage.

Long story short, her mother and father were brutally slaughtered in front of her eyes. Fuel by anger and driven with vengeance, she was responsible for the CIA's "attainment" of one of the world's most dangerous terrorist organization.

With her family eliminated, she became the property of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"You're going to be home schooled," They told her, "And also start athletic training."

She was silent. She didn't have a choice.

She lost contact with her friends. As far as they knew, she had been killed with her parents. Her "death" aroused a sense of patriotism within her former community and became a weapon for politicians within the state. Her young, innocent face became the icon of innocence for anyone who was interested.

It was better this way.

She was educated at an accelerated pace. She learned another language. She learned martial arts.

She was a fast learner.

Within time, she was extremely agile, not only physically, but mentally as well.

She gained skills, yet lost everything else she thought was important. Her family. Her friends. Her home.

Her identity.

When deemed appropriate, she was used as a very effective spy. She was sent to foreign countries, armed with the most technologically advanced weapons to aid her in missions. No one expected her. No one even knew about her.

Her name was a mystery, even to many high ranked agents within the CIA.

The spy world knew of her achievements, but they didn't know who this agent was.

She became known as Agent X. She was so secret and effective, only the director of special operations was allowed to speak with her. He was the only person who knew how she looked like.

After years of success, she would finally find herself stuck in a terrible situation in which she could not get herself out of… and be saved by the most unlikely person. At least to her, anyway.

x

_Fast forward to the present._

x

Several men were gathered in a dimly lit room, all armed with gleaming metal weapons. There were seven inside the room, and according to their discussion, four more were on their way.

Agent X laid silently above them, intently listening to every word that was said. Electronic recorders were pressed painfully against her stomach, sending the conversation to some military official thousands of miles away.

Two men arrived in the room.

Two more to go.

The agent was extremely uncomfortable. The vent which she resided in was small and narrow. The scent of rancid, thick body odor from the men below filled the vent and each soft, controlled breath she took. The humidity of the room rose to her level and created a suffocating effect.

A man entered the room.

One more to go.

The discussion began to die down as heavy footsteps neared.

The eleventh man entered. Complete silence dictated the room. Agent X slowed her breathing almost to a stop.

As far as she knew, the men were all standing, heavily armed, and middle eastern. Yet when the man spoke, his language told a different story.

_Korean?_ Agent X thought. _But the other men spoke Arabic before he arrived_…

After a few confusing seconds, the agent realized that the man was speaking in Chinese.

She could not understand a single word of Chinese.

Luckily for her, a translator was present. Whatever the Chinese man said, the translator said in Arabic.

"_Thank you very much for your attendance_." The translator said softly.

The agent closed her eyes to increase her hearing capabilities.

The Chinese man spoke, then the translator.

"_Fortunately for us, we have a special visitor_."

The room was silent.

The agent's heart raced. Could it be a terrorist? Could this meeting be the result of a cross alliance of foreign terrorist agencies?

"…_The infamous X agent_."

Without warning, the agent felt pressure burst within the vent. Heat licked at her feet and she was violently thrown forward. The vent was ripped open and the agent hit the cold, cement floor with a horrendous crack.

She wasn't even conscious when the men realized the person they were expecting was only a teenage girl.

x

x

x

Alan Blunt received the frantic call in the morning, just as he arrived in his office.

His American counterpart was in hysterics.

The "legendary" Agent X was captured. A video was sent, as well as a nasty message. He wasn't allowed to see it, of course.

American military was the closest to the scene, but could not be trusted with an effective save. Everything must be handled quickly and efficiently to prevent media attention, or harm to the agent.

MI6 agents were in the area. They would be able to conduct the rescue.

Blunt assured the head of the CIA that MI6 would commence the rescue mission and even finish it if necessary.

x

x

x

Alex Rider strolled casually along the streets of the Latin quarter of Paris. His arms were folded comfortably behind his head as he enjoyed the gorgeous, almost summer afternoon. He and Tom were heading to southern France, yet felt compelled to stop and visit this area before they arrived there.

They passed by a patisserie, which displayed many pleasantly smelling pastries.

"Je veux un croissant." Tom smiled, expressing his desire for a croissant as well as practicing his French.

"Je ne le veux pas." Alex said. "Actuallment, je voudrais… cela. Cette belle voiture."

He pointed to a black Ferrari cruising down the extremely narrow stone road.

"Non, non… Regarde!" Tom said. "Je voudrais _cela_!" He grinned, pointing to a pair of French girls walking down the street across from them. The girls, noticing the boys attention on them, giggled furiously and began to walk with a ferocious sway in their hips.

Alex grinned and shook his head. "Oh mon dieu!" Alex laughed.

The boys, nearing legal adulthood, were at the last few months of their teenage years. They had endured so much though their friendship, but now was the time to relax. Alex's days as a spy were pretty much gone.

Now it was time to enjoy life as teens.

"Est-ce que tu voudrais acheter quel'que chose?" Tom asked.

"Je-" Alex began, but shut his mouth.

A motorbike speed by, shortly followed by another one, and another one, until perhaps fifteen or sixteen passed by. The seventeenth one slowed to a stop in front of them.

"Cub!" The cyclist exclaimed and pushed up the visor of his helmet, obviously rushed. "You've grown up! You in this too?"

Judging from his what he could see of his face and the fact that he was called "Cub", Alex realized he was Wolf.

"…What?"

"Agent X has been captured!" Wolf whispered hoarsely. "That's all I can say. Fancy seeing you here, what a coincidence!" Wolf revved the engine and started forward.

"Hope to see you later." And he was gone.

Alex felt the urgency of the situation. Agent X? Captured? Not in a million years, as far as he was concerned.

He turned to Tom, who seemed to be trapped in his own bewildered world.

"Agent X is one of the best spies in the world. He is responsible for the attainment of more of less thirty of the top terrorist masterminds within only a few months time."

"Really?" Tom asked.

Alex nodded. Curiosity bubbled within him. What if he could meet this agent? Possibly even save him? He didn't know too much about him, only that information of his success began to spread like wildfire when Alex was about fifteen or so.

"What are you planning to do?" Tom asked, excitement shining in his eyes.

Alex paused to think.

He was finished with MI6. Did he really need to continue?

"Well… I suppose MI6 is handling it properly. I don't know where they are going, and I'm not even properly equipped."

Tom slumped his shoulders. "You serious?"

Alex shrugged. "Might as well find out what's going on anyway, right? A bit like old times." He said, smiling reflectively, although his past wasn't especially cheerful.

Tom grinned. "Yeah, like old times. Brilliant."

Grinning, they started toward the direction of the motorbikes. They had a long ways to catch up.

x

x

Nathaniel Moss was sitting at his desk, staring into nothing. The fiddled with a pen and he sunk deeper and deeper into thought.

Agent X was captured. From what he heard, by possible Al Quida members and an unknown Chinese organization.

His best agent. Captured.

He never met the man. He didn't know were he was from, where he lived, what he liked to do in his spare time.

He didn't know if or if not this "Agent X" would withstand some amount of torture before giving in and spilling top secret American government information.

Or course he was concerned with the agent's well being, but he was more concerned with the well being of the CIA and the general well being of the people of the United States of America.

He had taken this position with the goal of cleaning up the CIA's reputation. Any security breach would destroy anything he accomplished in the past.

Suddenly, the newly appointed Director of Special Operations entered his office. Moss set down his pen.

Penelope Davis was in her forties, had light brown hair, and always had a stern expression. The was fairly tall and secretly intimidated Moss. She had been around since she was in her twenties and sought for his position.

She was also the only person allowed to have contact with Agent X.

She stared at him directly in the eyes.

"You asked MI6 for assistance?" She asked incredulously.

He noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She must have been very stressed.

"Yes."

"And why is it that you did such a thing?" She spoke hoarsely. "American military was station only miles from the agent's location."

Then an insane thought popped into his mind. Davis and Agent X having some sort of intimate relationship? Think of the media! He imagined the headlines. 'Super-spy and Spec. Ops Director… ' What a scandal that would be!

"We do not control the military. Nor do we train them. I cannot trust people who are trained to shoot and destroy to secretly rescue an agent-"

"Nor do we train MI6 agents!" She exclaimed.

"Those agents are trained for intelligence work. The CIA and MI6 have worked together in the past. I believe they can work together in the present." Moss said.

"You are gambling with security…" Davis growled.

"You may leave." He cut in smoothly.

She glared and slowly left the office.

Moss picked up his pen and continued to fiddle with it.

x

x

x

"Hell Alex, what time is it?" Tom asked. "We've been searching for ages."

"Yeah. I know." Alex sighed. "Let's get back. "

"Alright." Tom said, slightly exhausted.

The sun had set. Alex and Tom went into the nearest metro entrance. There, they would go back to the inn they were staying at. In the morning, they would take a train to Normandy and meet with an old friend, Sabina Pleasure.

They waited in the crowded station and waited for the train to arrive. People were talking, and across the tracks, a man was playing the guitar for euros.

"I can't wait to finish school." Tom muttered.

Alex looked over. "I can."

"Honestly?"

He nodded.

"Why's that?"

"I'm not too sure what I want to do after." Alex replied.

"Ah. I see."

The train arrived and the breaks screeched as it slowed to a stop. Tom and Alex boarded the crowded train. They stood and held onto one of the poles.

As people finished rushing onto the train, the door closed and the train moved forward.

They had quite a few stops to go before they arrived at the inn.

They stayed relatively silent as people left and boarded the train. As they neared their stop, the train became less and less croweded.

Alex gazed around . Tom was picking at his fingernails. There was an eldery woman sitting a ways down, a teenage couple, a young man, and a particularly shady looking man playing on some sort of handheld device.

They were two stops away from where they needed to be.

As they approached the second to last stop, the couple and the shady man left the train.

Alex's instincts told him to follow.

A noise was released to signal the doors to close.

Alex went with his instint and moved out of the train before the doors shut.

Tom quickly turned to the window and gaped at Alex.

"What the hell?" He mouthed as the metro started.

Alex motion to the cellular phone in the pocket.

"Call me if you need to." He mouthed in return, and darted away and the metro heading the opposite direction.

* * *

**AN:** Originally, this was divided into three chapters. Then i just crammed it all into one. I think it was easier that way. Haha. 

Questions? (yes.) Comments? (yes.) Review please. (okay.)

x

x

x

_"Je veux un croissant."_ - I want a croissant.

_"Je ne le veux pas. Actuallment, je voudrais… cela. Cette belle voiture."_ - I don't want it. Actually, i would like... that. That beautiful car.

_"Non, non… Regarde! Je voudrais cela!"_ No, no... Look! I would like _that_!

_"Oh mon dieu!"_ - Oh my god!

_"Est-ce que tu voudrais acheter quel'que chose?"_- Is it that you would like to buy something?

_"Je-" _- I-


End file.
